7 November 2001
Leading US Education Innovator And Former President Of Yale University To Visit New Zealand
Professor Benno Schmidt, internationally renowned educationalist and outspoken defender of freedom of expression and
liberal education, will visit New Zealand next month as a guest of the New Zealand Business Roundtable.
Professor Schmidt will deliver the NZBR’s 2001 Sir Ronald Trotter Lecture in Auckland on 19 December. His lecture is
titled Reinventing Public Education in America.
Professor Schmidt is currently Chairman and CEO of Edison Schools, the United States’ leading private manager of public
schools. The Edison school design, which enters into partnerships with public education authorities to create innovative
and world-class public schools, has been implemented in 113 public schools. More than 57,000 students currently attend
Edison partnership schools (www.edisonproject.com).
Professor Schmidt is one of America’s leading scholars of the Constitution, the history of the US Supreme Court, the law
of freedom of expression, and the history of race relations in America.
In 1973, at age 29, Professor Schmidt became one of the youngest tenured professors at Columbia University Law School
and later went on to become Dean. He was Chairman of Mayor Giuliani’s Task Force on The City University of New York.
During Professor Schmidt’s presidency of Yale University from 1986 to 1992, the institution achieved the highest rate of
growth among the major endowed private universities in the United States.
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